Friday, February 2, 2018

Weekly Wrap- Up: The Week We Went to Great Wolf Lodge

We had a great week but this was one of those weeks that we all just could not wait for it to end. We had plans to go to Great Wolf Lodge overnight on Thursday with some friend and the younger two boys could not wait! Ian wanted to stay behind and go work with his dad or grandfather instead so he was pretty excited too. We had a small little snowstorm early in the week and the boys spent a day outside playing and sledding; it's the first time we've been sledding this winter!

The boys and I had planned to go to the movies on Friday with some friends of ours and see Paddington 2. I asked them to do a bit of schoolwork before we left. They each worked on writing, reading, math and geography. We started a new family read aloud to go along with our industrial revolution unit and Alec finished listening to his book on CD while coloring in his room. Ian spent quite a lot of time designing a yarder like they use to harvest logs on logging sites. I am always so amazed at what he can build using Lego pieces from other kits he's finished with. We had a great time at the movies and it didn't hurt that we had the whole theater to ourselves. The movie was so funny; I enjoyed it a lot more than the first one and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with our friends.

Ian headed off to work early on Saturday and since my husband was away at an OSHA training seminar for the day, the younger two boys and I hung around the house cleaning, doing laundry and putting together a meatloaf and some brownies for dinner. After dinner Ian and my husband worked in the forge for a bit and Ian made a new hook.

Ian and Evan headed to the woodworking shop with my husband on Sunday. Ian started working on a new table to set his turtle tank on with a few shelves to display his trucks underneath. Evan sanded and put another coat of urethane on his shelf. Alec and I spent the morning cleaning out his fish thank and getting everything ready to travel to my mother in law's house. Alec has decided he'd rather have the space for more Lego sets and since he REALLY did not want anything to happen to his fish my mother in law offered to take it over. My husband was home by noon and my mother in law to came to watch the three boys so my husband and I could have a shopping/ dinner date day. The boys helped my mother in law set up her new tank while my husband and I enjoyed a nice day out and dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

We dug into schoolwork on Monday morning and all three boys were completely finished by lunch. They all worked on math, reading, spelling, and writing and we read a couple of books together about the industrial revolution. The older two boys spent a few hours playing outside and then all three boys decided to watch The Lego Movie after lunch. We ran to the library and the store and then prepared dinner. After dinner Ian headed back to the woodworking shop to work some more on his table.

We woke to a bit of unexpected snow on Tuesday and enjoyed a snow day home from karate. The boys all worked on reading, cursive, and math and we had plenty of time for a few fun science experiments and an art project using snow. Once school was over they went outside to play and spent most of the afternoon outside. Evan went sledding and almost landed in the lake a time or two. After dinner Evan went to go pick up his completed woodworking project and we hung the new shelf in his room.

Guessing how much water is in snow

Seeing if snow sinks for floats

Using our bowls to make the biggest snowball ever!

We didn't have anything planned for Wednesday so the boys and I enjoyed a leisurely morning. They made sure to get their schoolwork done and they spent a lot of time playing with Legos. They worked on math, English, reading and history. The younger two boys packed their bags for our stay at Great Wolf Lodge and since it was a bright sunny day we went for a walk after lunch. I had a few errands to run anyway and I thought we could all use some fresh air and exercise. While running errands Ian purchased another few small Lego sets for himself and Evan talked me into dying his hair so Ian spent his afternoon putting Legos together while Evan and I dyed his hair blue. Ian went to the woodworking shop after dinner and Alec and I played a few rounds of Mastermind. Alec, Evan and I then watched a few episodes of Cupcake wars.

Reading pages from "The Mitten" by Jan Brett

Alec had a make up karate class on Thursday and we didn't have much time for schoolwork. I asked the boys to pick out something to do for math and reading and figured that was good enough. As soon as we finished karate and ate some lunch the younger boys and I headed out to Great Wolf Lodge as Ian headed off to work.

What a wonderful week. I love the snow to water estimation. I will have to try that with my kids. Of course, you can do that one more than once because the ratio will be different depending on the type of snow. How fun that you all got away for a mini vacation.Blessings, Dawn

Ah, Cupcake Wars is a TV show on Food Network. 4 bakers compete in a three round challenge to be named the winner and receive $10,000 prize. Usually the first round they are given a list of really unusual ingredients and have to use one or two of them to create a unique cupcake. One of the 4 is kicked out after the judges (professional pastry chefs) try them all. The second challenge the remaining contestants have to come up with three more cupcake and 50% of the challenge is for them to decorate it according to the week's theme. Once it's down to just two bakers they have to create a 1,000 cupcake display using the 4 recipes they created for the show and a carpenter to create a whole free standing display. The best display and cupcakes win and are usually featured at a celebrity party or charity event.